Siti Rahmawati Chaniago
Lovingly known as “Ibu Prof”
7 December 1941 — 15 May 2024 · aged 82
Universitas Indonesia professor who rescued hundreds of fading Minang proverbs
Jakarta, Indonesia Born in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra Resting at TPU Tanah Kusir, South JakartaAbout Siti
In Minangkabau tradition the house belongs to the women and the proverbs belong to everyone, and Siti Rahmawati spent her life making sure both were well looked after. Born in 1941 in Padang Panjang, a cool highland town of rain and mosques in West Sumatra, she grew up listening to her grandmother recite pepatah-petitih, the elegant rhymed sayings with which Minang elders settle arguments, bless weddings and quietly rebuke the young.
She came to Jakarta in 1960 to study at the University of Indonesia, graduating in Indonesian literature, and completed a doctorate in 1978 with a thesis on oral Minang poetry. For thirty-eight years she taught in the Faculty of Humanities at Universitas Indonesia, first at Rawamangun and later on the Depok campus, where generations of students knew her as Ibu Prof, the small woman in a batik blouse who could silence a lecture hall by quoting a proverb. She spent her holidays travelling by bus and motorbike through the Sumatran highlands with a cassette recorder, interviewing elderly storytellers, and eventually collected and annotated more than three hundred proverbs that had never been written down. She chaired a committee on regional language preservation and quietly paid tuition for dozens of first-generation students from the provinces.
At home in Jatipadang she cooked a rendang so slowly that it took the whole of a Sunday, kept a pot of sweet tea on the table for visiting students and read the newspaper aloud to her husband, Pak Hasan, a civil servant, until he died in 2016. She was a devout Muslim and a regular at the Friday talks at Al-Azhar Mosque. She passed away peacefully on 15 May 2024, aged eighty-two. She leaves her daughter Ratna, her son Fajar, three grandchildren, and a country with a better memory because of her.
“Alam takambang jadi guru: let the unfolding world be your teacher.”
- Faith
- Muslim
- Place of birth
- Padang Panjang, West Sumatra
- Resting place
- TPU Tanah Kusir, South Jakarta
- Passed away
- 15 May 2024, Jakarta
Janazah Prayer & Burial
Thursday, 16 May 2024 at 07:00 UTC
Add to calendarLife journey
Bachelor in Indonesian Literature
Universitas Indonesia1960 – 1965 · Jakarta
Came to Jakarta from Padang Panjang on a provincial scholarship.
Doctorate in Literature
Universitas Indonesia1972 – 1978 · Jakarta
Thesis on oral Minang poetry and its proverbs.
Lecturer to Professor
Universitas Indonesia, Faculty of Humanities1966 – 2004 · Jakarta & Depok
Thirty-eight years of teaching, supervising and collecting.
Married Hasan Basri
1968 · Jakarta
A marriage of forty-eight years.
Chair, Regional Language Preservation Committee
Pusat Bahasa (National Language Centre)1990 – 2003 · Jakarta
Documented fading regional languages and oral traditions.
Lifetime Achievement Award for Cultural Preservation
Ministry of Education and Culture2010 · Jakarta
For preserving more than three hundred Minang proverbs.
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Family & connections
Siti is survived by
- Ratna Dewi Basri· Daughter
- Fajar Basri· Son
- Hj. Nurbaiti Chaniago· Sister
- 3 grandchildren· Grandchildren
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Siti.
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Dutch linguist who worked with her
In 1999 we travelled to Payakumbuh to record an elderly storyteller. In the rain, on a bus, she translated every proverb for me and explained which ones were jokes. I published our paper in Leiden. The best sentence in it is hers.
- DA
First-generation student, scholarship recipient
I came from a village in Jambi with no shoes fit for Depok. Ibu Prof quietly paid my tuition and gave me a pair. I only learned it was her at graduation. I teach literature in Jambi now, and I do the same for my students, quietly.
- UR
Villager from Padang Panjang
Ibu Siti came back to our village every Lebaran, always with books for the school. She sat with the grandmothers and wrote down what they said. Our children can now read their grandmothers' proverbs. She made us proud of our own words.
- HA
Colleague, Faculty of Humanities
She chaired every committee I dreaded and turned every meeting into a feast, bringing lemang and rice cakes. When we argued she quoted a proverb and the argument ended in laughter. The faculty has lost its memory and its heart on the same day.
- RS
Former student at Universitas Indonesia, class of 1994
Ibu Prof would stop mid-lecture, look out of the window and say, 'The word for that rain is not in the dictionary yet.' Then she would give us the Minang word. I wrote it on my hand. I have written it on my daughter's hand now.
- UZ
Friday talks group, Al-Azhar Mosque
She sat in the second row every Friday with a notebook and asked the best questions. She said faith and language are both houses with many rooms. After her janazah, the whole row stood in silence for a minute. One seat remained empty.
